Stewart Downing DROPPED

Brighton make two changes

Gordon Greer and Jamie Murphy come in at the expense of the suspended Lewis Dunk and Jiri Skalak for the visitors.

11:29

Boro fans set the tone

Just over an hour to go Boro fans - how are we feeling?

11:20

Pallister discusses today's game - and what Boro need if they are promoted

Former Middlesbrough defender Gary Pallister insists everything is in Boro’s favour as Aitor Karanka and his side look to end a seven-year absence from the Premier League.

Boro and Brighton go head-to-head this lunchtime in a game which will decide who joins Burnley in securing automatic promotion from the Championship, with Karanka knowing that a draw will suffice against the Seagulls.

And Pallister believes the fact Brighton must win, coupled with the game taking place at the Riverside, means Boro are the favourites to seal promotion - and with it the £170m jackpot for reaching the top flight.

“Everything is in Boro’s favour; it’s a full house, they only need a draw and they’re in good form,” he told The Independent .

“But Brighton are in good form themselves.

“I thought they were done and dusted for automatic promotion but they’ve put together a great set of results and they’ve got goals in the team.

Nsue's fired up!

Hughton: It's not about the money

Brighton manager Chris Hughton insists today’s game is all about the glory - and not the windfall at stake should the Seagulls win.

£170m is the prize on offer to the winning side at the Riverside today, but Hughton is focused solely on securing promotion.

He told The Argus...

“I can honestly say there isn’t one part of it that affects me or that is on my mind.

“The only thing that is on my mind is the owner and staff of this football club, the supporters and players who have been magnificent.

“What an achievement it would be for us to gain promotion this year.

“The finances come as very much a secondary thought. The thought of promotion far outweighs the thought of any financial implications.”

10:18Tom Marshall-Bailey-GAZ

Vossen's cheering on the Boro

Good morning Boro fans.

I will be taking you through the rest of this morning until Dom takes over proceedings from the Riverside.

What better place to start than Jelle Vossen on Boro!

He’s hoping for a second of his former clubs to be promoted from the Championship.

10:11Andrew Glover

Be in your seats early...

A final reminder that there’s a flag display arranged for the WHOLE STADIUM before kick off.

Boro have urged fans to be in their seats early for video montages featuring supporters and fans.

I’m going to slip into my Heritage Hampers replica now and try and squeeze three pints in before jogging to the ground from town.

Tom Marshall Bailey will guide you into the hands of Dom Shaw for the match.

Try and enjoy it and if all goes well I’ll see some of you in the Centre Square fountain.

09:49Andrew Glover

Hoping for a blast of Garbo's music at full time...

09:46Andrew Glover

Order of service

It’s OK to have a bottle of Amstel before brushing your teeth, isn’t it?

Hopefully the bosses aren’t reading.

Just thought it might help my state of fear and confusion.

If you can’t be at the match today and can’t see it on the box either, Dominic Shaw will bring you the best colour, humour and tension on GazetteLive.

I can’t be sure he didn’t sleep at the Riverside last night, but his blog will roll from around 10.45am.

In fact, even if you’re watching on Sky, second screen it with Dom. He won’t mention I*n H*******.

As we approach kick off the Gazette Boro Facebook page cover pic has just been updated to this.

Red Faction's We Shall Overcome banner

Hold that thought today.

09:33Andrew Glover

Best men

We briefly mentioned weddings earlier.

How’s this for a snap?

09:27Andrew Glover

Boro's leader

Grant Leadbitter understands as much as anyone what football means in the North-east.

He’s said previously how Boro have “got under his skin”.

I remember seeing him be the last player off the pitch at the Stadium of Light after our win in the League Cup in 2012.

Grant paused and kissed the turf where his dad’s ashes are buried.

He’s very much a Sunderland man and fan but he’s also as Boro as they come now.

His pre-match words are excellent.

I have to thank Tony Mowbray for bringing me to this club, and ever since then, I’ve loved it. I don’t know why, but I love playing for the club.

I think you play your best football when you enjoy playing for a football club, and I’ve certainly enjoyed myself here.

It always helps when there’s good people around you, and from upstairs to downstairs, that’s the case here.

When people work well together, you have success on the pitch and that’s what we’ve had this season.

Ben Gibson, Jonathan Woodgate and Stewart Downing are from the area.

It certainly helps because they know the area, they have family in the area, they know people in the area and they keep feeding stuff into the dressing room about it, which is good and benefits the group.

More class stuff from the captain, courtesy of Philip Tallentire HERE.

Grant Leadbitter and Albert Adomah celebrate

09:11Andrew Glover

The scene in kitchens across Teesside

09:06Andrew Glover

Stomach like a tumble dryer

Just to describe the scene for you here, I’m hopping about nervously on my chair and my stomach is ticking along like a tumble dryer.

At the other end of the room, the two-year-old is watching Peter Rabbit, calmly.

He’s got it all to come.

Johnny, below, has got his morning sorted.

Suspect there might be a few lagers around the breakfast table today.

08:59Andrew Glover

As we suspected...

...George is FIT (and available for selection this afternoon).

Surely this will be the team?

08:55Andrew Glover

More messages of support

One of the heroes of last season sends his best wishes.

And a young lad making a name for himself in India is also rooting for Boro this afternoon

08:51Andrew Glover

The heroes of Boro's last promotion

Time for some positive vibes.

Were you there against Oxford in ‘98? That was a nervy afternoon, for the first half at least.

This week Dom Shaw spoke to Alun Armstrong, Curtis Fleming and Craig Harrison about a special day in the Teesside sun.

A win would be enough to secure promotion regardless of what happened elsewhere but dropped points and a Sunderland win at Swindon Town would see the Mackems pip Boro to that second automatic promotion spot.

“We knew Sunderland were winning at half-time so we knew what we had to do,” says Armstrong, a £1.6m signing from Stockport County three months earlier.

“But we’d prepared ourselves for that. We expected Sunderland to win and we expected to win ourselves.”

Boro celebrate promotion to the Premier League after the win over Oxford in 1998

08:34Andrew Glover

The opposition front page

I’m saying nowt, yet.

08:26KEY EVENT

'We will go marching once again'

Social media is awash with rallying cries this morning. Teesside Churchills are pouring their hearts out before heading for Middlehaven.

I haven’t seen a better one than this from Mike McGrother, frontman of Wildcats of Kilkenny and all-round top bloke.

This will get going.

Today , Middlesbrough fc are playing a game of football.

It’s a simple, some would say silly game where we need to get a ball into a net at least as many times as Brighton.

On the face of things it doesn’t matter. It’s a game. It’s a game that people are telling me is worth over £175 million pounds. But to me, the game - 90 minutes of undoubted twists, turns and stomach churning moments is much more than football.

It is about identity. Community. Recognition. We are a region that has been systematically abandoned and rejected by governments, investors, industrialists, journalists and media.

We are pictured as a place where things used to happen - but where poverty, disadvantage and despair are now our identifying elements. Where the railways began. Where steel was blasted. Where bridges, ships, power stations, chemicals, IDEAS originated.

We populated the world with our creative, pioneering, hard worked concepts and products. But that was then. The past. Christy Moore puts it perfectly in his song ‘Ordinary Man’ - You stripped me of my dignity and pride.

And so what do we have?

Internally - in our community we know what we have - our ideas still glowing; our work ethic unending; our humour, passion, belief, creativity burning.

But externally - whether we like it or not - we are the land that was forgotten.

Today the eyes of the world are on Middlesbrough - on Teesside.

We win - draw this one game - a silly little game and people will sit up remember our great region once again.

And then we build. We build again.

We use this crazy silly game called football to brand our identity across the world again.

We are the Infant Hercules. We are Middlesbrough Football Club. We will go marching once again.

Mike McGrother, Wildcats of Kilkenny

08:21Andrew Glover

Neatly summed up and a message from Julio

I like that from Stu.

Are you coping, then?

It’s reaching driving test/wedding day proportions for me.

I failed the driving test twice. Still married* four years on. Not sure if there are any omens there.

*Marriage bit may need to be amended depending on levels of celebrations later on (hopefully).

The below from Julio was lovely overnight.

08:11Andrew Glover

Today's front page

An absolute belter, this. It reflects for me what today is all about: the fans.

Young Gibbo will have most likely have been up all night like the rest of us.

08:06Andrew Glover

Here we go then

Now then.

We thought we’d run a Saturday morning blog, what with the reasonably important football game kicking off at 12.30pm.

Middlesbrough vrs Brighton for a place in the Premier League.

We’ll do the usual build-up, highlighting the best of our pre-match coverage on the off chance you haven’t already read it.

But aside from that we’ll reflect what you’re saying, how you’re feeling, what time you’ve been up since. And what time your taxi is taking you to Lloyds for a breakfast.

Hopefully we can help settle some nerves.

In all honesty, I’m not sure why they picked me.

I’ve probably never been less suited to a task in journalism (using the term loosely) since I was sent to the South Shields branch of HMV to interview Little Mix in the week of their first number one single.